Windows xp stops responding..........

Hi im running windows xp home edition and all of a sudden
i started having problems it boots up fine but once it
gets to the desktop i click on say my computer and nothing
happons and that happons for all desktop icons so i click
start then all programs and the same happons i recently
had a error message saying something about ram so i
downloaded a program from microsoft crash site to test my
ram and about 12 tests failed so all i can do on my
computer is look at my desktop i dont really want to
format but if that is all i can do fine but is there a
hardware fault or has my ram cards been damaged.

hope you can help

thanks alot
Mike